Sensis has recently posted statistics showing the rise in social media usage amongst businesses in Australia. From 2011 to 2012 there was a massive increase of 29 % of large businesses using social media, the majority of these businesses updating their social media sites every day in 2013.

Smaller businesses on the other hand have been slowing down the amount of attention being paid to social media. In 2012, 22% of these businesses updated their social media on a daily basis but throughout 2013 it dropped to 18 %. Obviously these small businesses are lacking some knowledge of social media and that is what Social Media AOK is here for, to help you develop your brand and become one of those larger businesses you have always dreamt of becoming, running social media training courses that can be tailored to suit you.

Social Media AOK believes in a hands on experience, no power points, no projectors and no pads and pens. It’s all about you getting onto your laptop and learning the skills straight away, developing your brand and creating your own social media strategy. In 2013 only 29% of small businesses had a strategy which they followed.

By first deciding on who you are targeting you will begin to understand what it takes to engage them. It comes down to the nitty gritty stuff, when are people are using social media most? What social media sites are your clients most likely to use? Facebook still sits at the top of the popularity ranking of social media as it is being used by 95% of social media but this may not be your ideal site. Social Media AOK will help you to figure out what is best for you and your specific business. Social Media AOK runs training programs on the three big social media sites, Facebook, Twitter and Linked In.

So small businesses of Adelaide, don’t be scared of social media, there are a lot of things to learn but once you get your head around it you will see your business shine.

Social Media AOK will be running a number of training programs throughout the month of May, the first beginning next week.

Getting the Most out of Facebook – May 6^th, 5pm-7pm

Twitter for business- May 13^th, 5pm-7pm

Linked in for professionals May 20^th, 5pm-7pm

Facebook and Linked In Advertising, May 27^th, 5pm-7pm

The post Social Media Training Programs appeared first on Social Media Training Adelaide.

The average midsize or large company (1000 employees or more) has 178 “social media assets” (Twitter handles, employee blogs, etc.)

– yet only 25% of companies offer social business training to their employees. (Marketingeasy)

Most business owners and managers of SME’s are struggling to get their head around what’s available and more to the point what’s relevant and what’s not.

I have encountered many business owners who have come across a well meaning friend or consultant who doesn’t have a business background and they are paying the price for not adhering to the old adage

“A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing”

Social Media should be approached as seriously as any other financial business investment.

At a minimum before you start creating or posting start with a PLAN

Have you done your SWOT and PEST analysis?

What is your customer demographic and who are you trying to target?

Australians are huge Social Media Consumers think about the way you engage those customers.

Do some surveys work out what they are interested in and what they are not.

Do not hand over your brand

It doesn’t matter how good a social media agency or consultant is they are not you, they are not going to know what you know about your products, services or customers. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with outsourcing the grunt work but be involved in the planning and content creation and make sure you are paying attention to what’s happening on your accounts and more importantly make sure you are replying to customers when it’s needed. 95% of Facebook wall posts are not answered by brands. (Mindjumpers)

That is the number one mistake businesses make they “Set and Forget” customers do not respond well to stonewalling you are entering their world and their space so when they comment they expect some acknowledgement and if they are complaining then the best thing you can do is give them a considered and professional reply. DO NOT DELETE complaints it is an opportunity to showcase how you resolve those complaints.

The best thing you can do for your business is train your staff members in effective negotiation techniques and Assertion techniques coupled with Clear complaint resolution guidelines that translate across all mediums from face to face to online.

At Social Media AOK we provide bespoke training for businesses and their staff on all of the above. That’s the beauty of having an agency working with you with a comprehensive business management and performance background that coupled with our training industry background means that you are placing your staff and your business in good hands we  believe that the best social media solution with an agency involves us getting to know you your business and your key stakeholders as well as possible and working with you to create a cohesive end to end solution for your business.

The post Before you jump in the social media pool appeared first on Social Media Training Adelaide.

As we relaxed in our fabulous hotel suite child free deciding what to do with our oodles of suddenly spare time I paused and found us both on our respective smart phones madly checking our various social media feeds and those of our clients before we ostensibly unplugged for two whole days.

Except we didn’t unplug at all – now admittedly this is our line of work. All things social and everything that sits on the fringe of that and believe me it is a fast moving mistress. Constantly evolving, twisting and changing in all sorts of amazing and exciting ways.

The fact is that this is part of the problem an increasing number of people find it difficult to unplug, myself included and you all know who you are. So here it is signs that you may need to health check your technology and more to the point your social media habit.

And so it goes on and on, they have studies on this stuff and trust me coming from a counselling background this stuff is dangerous, self-feeding anxiety inducing behaviour, think OCD, it is addictive and it is useful to put some rules in place. So here are mine

Rules to rule the social media world do you have it or does it have you?

Remember above all, social media is an adjunct to the real world and shouldn’t replace real time off line conversations face to face, with family, friends, colleagues or prospective business contacts.

Like a good friend of mine in the advertising game once said it is a great avenue for getting your content out there but you still need to build the relationship once they have found you.

The post Social Media Thoughts from the Pitch appeared first on Social Media Training Adelaide.